398 lines
14 KiB
Groff
398 lines
14 KiB
Groff
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*=*=*=*=*=*=*
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-<Bronze Dragon>-
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*=*=*=*=*=*=*
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*Softdocs typed by*
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The Cracksmith of First Class
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Introduction:
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------------
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You've just entered another world. A world with fabulous riches,
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unbridled sorcery, and no end. Your adventureing paties may work
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together or break up and fight one another. Over 200 different monsters
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are waiting for a chance to kill your characters in dozens of exotic
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ways. Even if the monsters don't get you, the traps lurking around every
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corner certainly will.
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Ahem. You say your're a veteran of many types of role playing games?
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you've always emerged victorious? We shall see. Computers show no mercy.
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If you'r new to adventure games, you'll find that Bronze Dragon is an
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easy game to play, yet it creates an infinite variety of situations.
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Bronze Dragon is a fantasy role-playing game that can accomodate up to 5
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players at once. There are many objectives in Bronze Dragon. In fact,
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there are no less than 12 castles and 1 full-blown module contained in
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the basic game. The ultimate goal is survival, and more importantly,
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enjoyment!
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The Disks:
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---------
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Bronze Dragon consists of two disks that we provide and one that you
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must supply. Whenever you're promted to insert a new disk, do so and
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press return. If the program doesn't tell you to change disks, you
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don't need to. To abort a procedure at a disk promt, press the space
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bar.
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Disk one ->
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S1 <Bronze Side>: The Main Menu and Dragon Village Menu are on this disk
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side. You will always boot the Bronze Side to begin play.
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S2 <Dragon Side>: The disk side containts the monsters, the plots, and
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generates the castles.
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Disk two ->
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S1 <Character Disk>: Up to 40 of your characters can be saved on this
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disk side. If characters aren't saved, they don't exist.
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S2 <Module Disk>: Our first module, Seekers of the Storm, is contained
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in its magnificent entirely on this disk side. The monsters and the
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dstardly plot are already there, waiting for you. You must copy the
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module onto a blank and name it Castle Disk before you can explore in
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it. See "Copying Modules."
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Disk Three ->
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S1 <Castle Disk>: Use one of YOUR blank disks for this, name it Castle
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Disk. You'll copy the module and castles onto it. Instructions on how
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to copy castles and modules are under "Copy Modules" and "Constructing
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Castles."
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Write Protect all sides except the character disk and your castle
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disk!!!!!!!
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For Those With Two Disk Drives:
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Bronze Dragon can be configured for two disk drives quite easily.
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Instead of switching disks and pressing return when the program promts
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you, just put the required disk in drive two and enter "2".
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From then on, the program will know to access drive two for that disk.
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The character disk should be put in drive two when you're copying a
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modules or creating a castle.
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Beginning Play:
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--------------
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Boot the Bronze side of disk one to start playing Bronze Dragon. The
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first screen you'll see after the Bronze Dragon logo clears is the Main
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Menu. The choices on that menu are summarized below, then explained in
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detail later.
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=*=*=*=*=*=
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#Main Menu#
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=*=*=*=*=*=
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1> Create a Character: You can actually make a flesh and blood being!
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Well not really, but you can determine the name, race, class, and
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alignment for each character.
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2> Enter Dragon Village: Dragon Village is a mystical town where almost
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anything can be bought or sold.
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3> Copy a Module: Seekers of the Storm, out first module, must be
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copyied on a blank disk that you provice - you can't play on the
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origional. The disk you've copied in on will henceforth be called the
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"Castle Disk," so remember that when you're asjed to insert it. See
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"Copying Modules."
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4> Construct a Castle: A "castle" is the setting for one of the 12 plots
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which the computer can generate itself. while not as complex as a
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module, they're fine adventures in their own right. The blank disk upon
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which the castle is constucted is called the "Castle Disk." See
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"Constructing a Castle."
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5> Gather a Party: One to five character MUST be "gathered" before they
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can start and adventure. It's kind of like assigning a group of
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characters to a certain adventure temporarily. Be sure the characters
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have finished their businedd in Dragon Village before gathering them
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into a party.
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6> Go On An Adventure: After you've equipped and gathered your party,
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it's time to go on an adventure
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7> Go To The Crossroads: After the adventure is over, a group of
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characters must travel to the Kingdom of King Leopold or the Pit of Lord
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Usul to gain skill points and skill levels.
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How To Create A Character:
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-------------------------
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Bronze Dragon begins when you start to create a party of characters.
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Every Bronze Dragon "persona" is unique and will help the party with
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indivitual powers.
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You create characters by choosing amoung the options in each category,
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such as name, race, etc. After everything is entered, the status of the
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character is shown, including ability scores and bronze peices. The
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meaning of the ability scores is given in the glossary under "ability
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scores." Each character starts with 75 bronze peices.
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Name: Any name up to 16 characters in length is acceptable. By entering
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"r", you can check the roster and delete characters if you want to...
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Race: You have 3 to choose from: humans, elves, and dwarves. Each is
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detailed below.
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Humans-> Humans are a very odd race, one that isn't very well liked by
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more advanced creatures. They are usually around six feet in hight and
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seem to regard this mutation as an advantage somehow. Special Commands:
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Humans can approximate the value of any object.
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Human ability scores:
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------------- ------
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Strength : 12
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Agility : 10
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Intelligence : 11
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Constitution : 10
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Endurance : 11
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Elves-> Elves are the fairest of all races and never hesitate to point
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this fact out to others. Arrogance and Vanity are currently the two most
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popular elven children's names. Special Commands: Elves can detect evil
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in characters or monsters.
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Elven ability scores:
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------------- ------
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Strength : 09
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Agility : 13
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Intelligence : 13
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Constitution : 07
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endurance : 08
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Dwarves-> Dwarves are generally a sullen and ill-tempered race. Many
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schollars attribute this to the fact that they're incredibly ugly. In
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fact, most females dwarves have beards, which is why so many dwarves go
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on adventures. Special Command: Dwarves are always aware of their
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relative position above or below ground.
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Dwarves ability scores:
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--------------- -------
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Strength : 12
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Agility : 08
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Intelligence : 08
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Constitution : 14
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Endurance : 13
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Class: You have 5 classes to choose from. The special commands are
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explained in their own section.
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Knights are fightin' strong, blood 'n guts, here's mud in yer eye type
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characters. they're blue collar adventureers; they can take dammage and
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dish it right back out. Knights can wear any type of armor and use any
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type of weapon. Their special commands include swordplay and rage. They
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have the most hit points and can carry up to 15 objects.
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Assassins are shifty, underhanded, and extremely dangerous. They're
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somewhat restricted in armor, but they can use almost as many weapons as
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a knight. Their special commands include assassination and sneaking.
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Assassins have average hit points and can carry up to 13 objects.
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Ninjas are mysterious masters of the orient fighting arts. They can only
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wear little more armor than wizards, but they have many weapons to
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choose from. Their special commands are martial arts, imitate dead, and
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leap. Ninjas have average hit points, and can cary up to 10 items.
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Elders are experts on living systems; their spells make them adept at
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both healing and killing. Elders are slightly more restricted in armor
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than assassins, and have very few weapons to choose from. Sorcery,
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destroy, and innate healing are their special commands. Elders have a
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few more hit points than wizards and can carry up to 8 objects.
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Wizards are powerful magic-users who can create massive amounts of
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damage with their powerful spells. They can own very little in the way
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of armor of weapons. Sorcery and cast energy are their special
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commands. Wizards have the fewest hit points and can carry up to 8
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objects.
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Alignments: This is a character's basic nature, whether it's virtous,
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lawful, chaoric, or vile. Virtuous and lawful characters are "good,"
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while chaotic and vile characters are "evil."
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During an adventure a character's alignment will change according to the
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player's actions. The most common method is by striking a monster or
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character. If you constantly attack good monsters, your characters will
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become vile if they didn't start out that way. If you adopt a "wait and
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see" attidued toward creatures you're not sure about (like lions), and
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only attack the evil creatures you're characters will become virtuous.
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It's much easier to become vile than virtuous. One or two swats on a
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unicorn will make anyone vile, but a vile character will have to
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killmany hobgoblins to become virtuous.
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I can't resist mentioning that character can change their alignments by
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attacking themselves! If a virtuous character attacks himself, he'll
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become evil. By the same token, a vile character will become a little
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less vile by attacking himself. Sure, it's a radical way of doing
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things, but Bronze Dragon inspires such lunacy....
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Dragon Village:
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--------------
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After you've created a party of characters, you'll need to supply them
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one by one with weapons and equipment in Dragon Village. The guard at
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the outer gates will ask for the name of one of your characters. If you
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can't remember it, just hit "R" and you'll get a complete roster of
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characters. If you just hit "return," you'll go back to the Main Menu.
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Dragon Village Menu:
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1> Purchase Equipment: The provisioner brings out his stuff in three
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groups: weapons, armor, and muscellaneous equipment. Hittle the space
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bar will take you to the next group; the return key brings back the
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Dragon Village Menu. Characters who go adventuring without wearons or
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armor are known as "Bronze Dragon Chow." Consult appendices 3,4, & 6 for
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details on equipment.
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2> Haggle with Merchants: Wanna sell something? Anything at all? Our
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three crooks -excuse us, merchants, will buy anything except cursed
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objects. They use haggling system, so wise folks don't take the first
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offer. Hit return if you wish to cut short a haggling session. Don't get
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cute by asking outrageous prices, because these guys are extremely
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touchy. See tips for advice on bargaining.
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3> Learn Spells: Only Elders and Wizards can learn spells, which they
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buy with spell points instead of bronze peices. They receive two spell
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points for each skill level, bonus points are given for high
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intelligence. Even beginning character can acquire several spells.
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Spells cost their level number. in other words, a second level would
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cost 2 spell points. High level spells are only available to high level
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characters. Spell points are regained when a character uses a spell or
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forgets it. A maximum of 7 spells for Wizards and 6 for Elders can be
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learned at one time. See appendix 7 for details 7 for details.
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4> Learn Martial Arts: Only Ninjas can learn martial arts, and even they
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have to have the money and skill levels to use 'em. As with spells,
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there are different levels of martial arts, only they're called
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disciplines to confuse you. Check appendix 5 and special commands for
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details.
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5> Mingle in the Pub: You'll probably need help to solve the plots, and
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who better to ask than the drunkards of Dragon Village? After you tell
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then which plot you're working on, many of our blottoed barflies will
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spill their guts for free. Some pub people want money for their
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cooperation, and still others lie through their teeth. We never said an
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adventurer's life was easy!
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6> Visit Healers: When your characters get bashed around a bit, the
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Healers will fix them up completely for a price. If you pay anything
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less than the asked-for fee, we'll make no garantees.....
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7> Consult Wizard: The Tower Wizard loves to check out rare and
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wonderful goodies. If you bring him an object, he'll try to detect a
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magical aura about it. If the object is indeed magical, he'll try to
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guess its nature. The Wizard also uncurses items, but charges a fee for
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this service.
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8> Resurrect a Character: Aw...Did one of yer characters fall down and
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snuff it?? You're in luck. In addition to his other abilities, the Tower
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Wizard brings the dead back to like. All you have to do is inform the
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Wizard of the dead character's name and he'll attempt to resurrect the
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character from a distance. He's not very good at it, however, and
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giving him the asked-for amount of bronze peices will only give you a
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50-50 chance. If you offer more or less, you chances will adjust
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accordingly. The resurrected character will lose 3 points of
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constitution if the process is successful.
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9> Look at Status: This will show everything about the character you
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currently have in Dragon Village.
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10> Bring in Somebody Else: When your character is through messing
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around in Dragon Village, this commands will bring a new character. Make
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sure the "old" character has been saved (by pressing "S") before using
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this option.
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Hit "S" when you want to save your character. To go back to the Main
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Menu, just hit Retrn.
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Copying Modules:
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---------------
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Warning: Copying a module destroys all data on the disk you provide, so
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we recommend using a blank disk.
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You can copy the module on the castle disk by pressing 3 on the Main
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Menu and following the prompts. The entire procedure should take less
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than 5 minutes. After you've copied the module, you can gather your
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party and fo on an adventure.
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Our first module, Seeksers of the Storm, is an extremely entertaining
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and complex adventure of tremendous scope. If you find it too difficult,
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you might try exploring a castle (suck as Dungeon of the Undead) to
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familiarize yourself with the world of Bronze Dragon.
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